


drifting, falling (coming home)

by symphony7inAmajor



Series: jets in space [1]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Astronauts, Carnivorous Plants, M/M, Outer Space, does that need a warning, mention of past injury, not quite star trek au but maybe could be if i tried, this fic brought to you by: my love of space, wish i could be gay in space therefore this is a reflection of that desire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 06:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18204770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symphony7inAmajor/pseuds/symphony7inAmajor
Summary: Brandon used to wish, sometimes, that he’d stayed on Sol-3.Until he joined the crew on the Jet, and met Adam.





	drifting, falling (coming home)

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for tumblr dialogue prompts which are as follows
> 
> 56: “Tell me what’s wrong.”  
> 82: “Just breathe, okay?”
> 
> the post can be found here:  
> https://hellsdemonictrinity.tumblr.com/post/160523410875/angstfluff-prompt-list 
> 
> originally wasn't planning to do an au like this but as i have said before: sometimes you read too many YA novels as a youth and are thus changed forever (and it shows!). also i like to write about more than just like. the same things every time. let's hear it for creative license, you know?
> 
> anyway if you are also gay and love space this is the fic for you!
> 
> title from Major Tom - Coming Home by Peter Schilling

_Julian Date 2495023.5_

_Gliese 581a system_

_Goldilocks zone_

_Tidally locked_

 

It’s been twenty minutes since the _Jet_ landed on Gliese-581g when Adam gets picked for the ground mission. Brandon helps him suit up in the airlock, Brossoit and Copp putting their own gear on nearby.

“Sad you don't get to come with me?” Adam jokes. Brandon pulls a buckle into place with more force than necessary. Adam winces.

“Next time,” Brandon says. “Probably shouldn't be running on my ankle yet, and whenever I go out with you we always seem to end up in some kind of mess.”

“Hey, the ankle wasn't _my_ fault,” Adam objects. That much was true, at least: Adam had stayed behind on the ship during the mission when he'd stepped into a trap and broken his ankle. Dustin had pretty much carried him back to the ship, which had been pretty embarrassing. “And we don't _always_ get in a mess!” Brandon narrows his eyes.

“Name one mission where you didn't almost get us killed or injured at _least_ once,” Brandon says. Adam opens his mouth, closes it.

“I'll get back to you on that one,” he says. Brandon picks up the helmet and reaches up to slide it on over Adam’s head. It clicks into place, but Brandon keeps his hands on either side of it.

“You better,” Brandon says quietly. Adam raises an eyebrow, unable to hear him without comms. Brandon tugs him down with the hands still on his helmet and presses his lips to the visor right over Adam’s mouth. When he pulls back, Adam looks confused, says something that Brandon can't hear. Brandon just taps his ear, grins weakly, and steps out of the airlock.

Adam watches him until the door slides shut.

Brandon heads to mission control to keep an eye on Adam. Wheeler and some of the other guys are already there, making sure the men stay on the right track.

Scheifele tosses a communicator to Brandon as soon as he walks in. It’s been long enough that he doesn’t need to ask what Brandon’s doing in mission control despite his role as an engineer.

“Here to watch out for the wife?” Brandon makes a face at Dustin, who just laughs. “There are cameras in the airlock, you know. Should we expect a happy announcement soon?” And that stings, a bit, the fact that his crew can see how much he likes Adam while Adam himself stays cheerfully oblivious.

“It was just a joke,” Brandon mutters, throwing himself into the chair next to the screens projecting what Adam’s cameras are sending back. He switches on his communicator, puts it in his ear just in time to hear Brossoit finish up his checks. “Mission control,” Brandon says, stifles a grin when Adam laughs.

“Don’t tell me _he’s_ supervising us,” Adam says, his helmet feed shaking wildly like he’s shaking his head in dismay.

“No,” Dustin says. “He’s just here to-” Scheifs kicks him in the ankle. “Hang out,” he finishes, makes a face. 

“Oh,” Adam says. Brandon frowns at his tone, but can’t decipher it. “So we’re going to a lake?” His voice is back to cheerful, so Brandon dismisses his weirdness as just imagination. He’s been on edge lately, it’s no surprise.

“Yeah,” Scheifs says. “Looks like some weird rock formations around it, so your job is to check if they’re natural or if something else made them.”

“Something,” Brandon repeats.

“Some _one_ ,” Adam says ominously. Brandon rolls his eyes.

“That’s the idea,” Wheeler says, dry. “But if you see anything that you think is dangerous, you get back here immediately, understood?”

“Understood,” all three of the ground crew say. For all the joking and teasing, they _are_ professionals. This is their job, and it’s important, and it isn’t always safe.

Brandon used to wish, sometimes, that he’d stayed on Sol-3. Let Chris be the only cosmonaut in the family. He could’ve gotten a job in building spacecraft, maybe met a guy, settle down. At least, until he’d heard that the _Jet_ , still a relatively new and small ship built to explore extrasolar planets, was looking at an engineer. Looking at _him_. The offer was very good.

So he left his station on Sol-5F, joined the crew on the _Jet_ , and met Adam.

Looking back, Brandon’s pretty sure he started falling for Adam during their first ground mission together, way back in the Proxima Centauri system. Adam had delayed going back to the ship so he could show Brandon his first sunset outside the Sol system, the deep red of the star painting the rocky plateau before the sky darkened to rich indigo, and finally to black.

“There’s Sol,” Adam had said, leaning closer to Brandon to point out the bright speck of their home system. Brandon turned to look at him to find Adam looking back. He’d opened his mouth to say something--what, he still doesn’t know--but then Wheeler’s voice had come over the comms, warning them to hurry up or they were staying behind until a rescue could pick them up.

They never talked about it, after, but Adam had stuck close to his side ever since.

“Hey,” Copp says over the comms, dragging Brandon out of his memories, “what are the registered life forms on this planet again?” His voice is careful, like he’s trying not to freak anybody out, but Brandon can hear Adam’s ragged breathing, see the way all three of them are moving their heads around like they’re looking for something.

“Insectoids, mostly,” Scheifs says, flipping through his records at his screens. “Some small creatures too, furred or scaled. First mission found signs of bigger ones, but didn’t see any. No signs of any construction like--”

“Did you see that?” Adam gasps. Brandon stiffens, leans closer to the screen. There’s nothing there that wasn’t there a second ago, just the same trees covered in vines, some dead branches at the base--Brandon frowns. That can’t be right.

He taps his comm so he’s only connected to Adam, ignoring Copp and Brossoit’s alarm for the time being. “Adam,” he says, trying to keep his voice even. “Adam, I need you to check out those trees for me.” Adam’s footage freezes, like he’s looking at something, but there’s _nothing there_.

“Brandon?” he says, voice incredulous. Brandon turns to look at the others, who are all talking to Copp and Brossoit. Brandon looks back at his screen, where Adam is edging closer to the trees. “Brandon,” he says again, uncertain.

“I’m here, buddy,” Brandon says, but Adam doesn’t respond.

“You should have your suit on,” Adam says, and that’s--what? “You can’t be out here without a suit, it’s not safe.” A pause, then, “But I thought--” He stops again.

“Adam,” Brandon says, a sense of urgency rising in him. “What’s going on? Tell me what’s wrong, _please_.”

“Of course I trust you,” Adam says. He pauses again--like he’s listening to someone _talk_ , Brandon realizes with horror, and by now Adam is close enough to the trees that Brandon can see the dead branches at the bottom of the trees are _bones_ , the vines twisted through them.

“Carnivorous plant,” Brandon shouts, turning to the others, who look instantly alarmed. “They’re hallucinating, the vines are going to eat them, get them out _now_.”

“Copp doesn’t seem as bad,” Wheeler says. “I’ll see if he can get the others away from the trees.” He turns back to his comms, speaking into it rapidly.

Adam’s closest to the trees, clearly the most affected, unable to even hear Brandon, which means Brandon’s calls through the comms for him to stop are for nothing.

He gets to watch, helpless, as Adam reaches up to pull of his helmet.

Everything happens very quickly after that.

Brossoit grabs Adam, drags him away from the trees just as the vines start reaching for them. Copp snatches Adam’s helmet, but it takes too long for them to get it back on.

Brandon can hear Adam struggling to breathe until he gets to the airlock.

Then, nothing.

 

As soon as the airlock door slides open, Brandon is inside, kneeling next to where Adam’s lying on the floor. Brandon pulls off his helmet, hands shaking. Adam’s lips are blue, and when Brandon presses two fingers to the side of his neck, there’s nothing.

Forcing himself to steady his hands, he unbuckles Adam’s suit to get to his chest.

“Starting resuscitation now,” he says over the comms, voice cracking.

When Brandon seals his mouth over Adam’s to pass on his breath, he hopes desperately that this isn’t the only time he has to do it.

“Come on, Adam,” he says, gritting his teeth to keep from crying. “You can’t, you _can’t_ , you have to live, come on.”

It takes him almost another full minute before Adam sucks in a huge breath, then starts coughing. Brandon bursts into tears, in relief as much as shock, before he can pull Adam’s head into his lap and make sure he’s okay.

“He’s alive,” Brandon gasps over the comms. “Someone help me get him to med bay.”

“Already on it,” Dustin says, relieved.

Adam slowly stops coughing, then blinks up at Brandon. He opens his mouth to speak, but his voice is still shot. Brandon leans closer to hear him.

“--don,” Adam croaks. “Y’okay?” Brandon wipes his free hand over his face.

“What do you mean, am _I_ okay,” Brandon says. “You’re the one who tried to breathe in an alien atmosphere and _died_.” Adam makes a considering face.

“Thank you,” Adam says, still barely audible, then dissolves into coughs again.

“Hey, hey,” Brandon pets his hair comfortingly, “don’t try to talk, just breathe, okay? You’ll be fine.” Adam smiles at him, wraps a weak hand around Brandon’s forearm, and they stay like that until help arrives.

 

\---

 

“Please go home,” says Scheifs.

“Why are you still here,” says Dustin.

“Have you even slept,” says Copp.

“It’s been three days,” says Bryan.

“I’ll send you back to Sol-3 if you don’t get some rest, Tanev,” says Wheeler.

“I’m resting!” Brandon argues, probably delirious with fatigue. He’s been sitting beside Adam’s bed for three days while any toxins from the planet’s atmosphere work their way out of his system, but he’s being kept unconscious the whole time to make it easier. “He’ll be awake soon, that’s all. I just want to be here for him.” Wheeler raises his eyebrows.

“You planning on telling him why,” he says. Brandon scoffs.

“Yes,” he says. Wheeler’s eyebrows rise even higher. “Probably,” he adds. “Maybe.”

“Well, good luck, kid.” Brandon spares a moment to feel offended by that as Wheeler claps him on the shoulder and leaves the room. “Oh, he’s waking up,” he tosses over his shoulder. The door hisses shut.

Brandon turns back to Adam, whose eyes are finally open. Adam blinks groggily.

“Brandon,” he says, a tired smile on his face. “‘s going on?”

“Do you remember anything from your mission?” Brandon asks. Adam frowns, forehead wrinkling. Brandon wishes, distantly, that he was allowed to press a kiss to his forehead, to hold his hand while he recovers, but he doesn’t. Can’t.

“Remember that it we were going to a lake to look at some rocks,” he says. “We were almost there when I saw you.” He reaches out and takes Brandon’s hand, his face pale. “I was confused at first, because I knew you were on the ship, but. It was _you_.”

“Adam, what are you--”

“Then it was like--I couldn’t hear _you_ anymore. Just the thing that looked like you, told me to come closer and that it was okay to take my suit off.” Adam shakes his head. “So stupid, I should’ve known better.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Brandon says. He rubs his thumb over Adam’s knuckles. Adam sighs.

“I know,” he says. “Still feels like it.” He closes his eyes for a long moment before he continues. “I remember trying to breathe, after I took my helmet off. It hurt.” Brandon’s hand tightens on his. “I don’t remember anything after that.” Disappointment twists in Brandon’s chest. He didn’t _really_ expect Adam to remember that Brandon had saved his life on the floor of the airlock, but. “Except you,” Adam says.

“What do you mean?” Brandon asks.

“I remember thinking I was dead,” Adam says. He closes his eyes again. “When I opened my eyes, I thought for sure I was, because I saw you with the light behind you, and I thought you were one of those angels from the old stories.” He laughs, but there’s a nervousness to it that Brandon isn’t used to hearing from him. “Then I passed out again.” He keeps his eyes shut, but his fingers are still tangled in Brandon’s. Wheeler’s voice echoes in his head, saying, _You planning on telling him why,_ the way Adam had shown him the sunset, feeling so long ago now.

“Do you remember anything else?” Brandon asks, full of courage. “From before, maybe.” Adam opens his eyes, his breath catching audibly.

“I remember-” Adam clears his throat, a flush high on his cheeks. “I remember you kissed my visor.”

“Yeah,” Brandon says. He reaches his free hand up to touch Adam’s face, still so careful. “You mind if I do it again? Properly?” Adam looks stunned for about half a second, then he laughs.

“Shit, Brandon, please, you have _no_ idea how long I’ve--” Adam cuts himself off by dragging Brandon down into a kiss. His mouth is soft under Brandon’s, but he also hasn’t brushed his teeth in three days, so Brandon keeps it short, pulls back smiling like an idiot.

He drops a kiss to Adam’s forehead as he draws away.

“I love you,” Brandon says, and savours the elated expression on Adam’s face for a second before adding, “but your breath _reeks_ right now, fuck. Maybe save kissing for after you brush them.” Adam looks disappointed. “Don’t worry,” Brandon says softly. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”

 

\---

 

Six months later, the _Jet_ stops on a frozen planet, nameless save for its jumbled numbers-and-letters designation.

Brandon stands in front of Adam, ready to venture out into the wasteland with him. Adam pulls his helmet on and grins at him. _Tradition_ , he mouths through the visor. Brandon rolls his eyes, steps forward, and leans up to kiss his visor.

When he puts his own helmet on, Adam says, “Ready to go? Face some dangers and all that?” Brandon shakes his head.

“With you?” He pauses long enough that Adam twitches a little anxiously. He grins. “Always.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> hey gang hoped you liked it
> 
> can you tell that i adore the (kisses astronaut's visor) trope? can you?
> 
> quick space things:
> 
> Sol-3=Earth (third from the Sun, which is Sol)
> 
> Sol-5F=Jupiter's moon Europa (Jupiter fifth from the Sun, Europa sixth from Jupiter)
> 
> Gliese 581=a red dwarf star about 20 light years from Earth
> 
> Gliese 581g=a planet orbiting Gliese 581 that could host life based on its location in the "Goldilocks zone," but due to the fact that it is tidally locked (same side always facing its star) one side would be a frozen desert and the other a boiling wasteland. however! the band of land that divides them could be okay
> 
> Proxima Centauri=star closest to Earth, another red dwarf, with some planets
> 
> the last planet i mentioned is OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb. yeah. coldest we know at the moment though! pretty neat!
> 
> will maybe come back to this some day because i love jets and i love space. come ask me about it on tumblr
> 
> https://symphony7inamajor.tumblr.com (i still don't know how to make links on here.... one day)


End file.
